What went wrong: Auburn defense sets record for yards allowed per game in 2012

In his first season on Auburn's campus, Brian VanGorder presided over a defense that set a school record for yards allowed per game. (Julie Bennett/al.com)

AUBURN, Alabama -- When Gene Chizik hired Brian VanGorder away from the Atlanta Falcons last January to take over Auburn's struggling defense, the move was praised as a home run by many.

VanGorder had SEC experience, a sparkling resume and won a Broyles Award.

But Auburn's defense under VanGorder faded as the SEC schedule progressed and ended up allowing a school-record 420.5 yards per game in 2012, including a school-record 671 yards in a loss to Texas A&M.

Auburn also allowed 28.3 points per game, narrowly missing the record set by former coordinator Ted Roof's squad in 2011 despite giving up 150 points in the Tigers' last three SEC games.

"I realized in the spring, when I walked out in spring ball, that we had a lot of work to do," VanGorder said two weeks ago. "I relate back to where I left the SEC and where Auburn was in football, the last team I saw here. It's a long ways from that right now."

Initially, VanGorder's scheme was supposed to free up what was supposed to be Auburn's deepest position group, the defensive line, to get penetration in the running game and pressure the passer. Under Ted Roof, the defensive line played a read-and-react scheme, but VanGorder's scheme was supposed to free the linemen to penetrate on every play.

Early in the season, the combination of Corey Lemonier and Dee Ford created pressure, altering games against Clemson and LSU by repeatedly getting to the quarterback.

As the season wore on, Lemonier's lack of effectiveness and Ford's injury issues exposed a defensive line that wasn't all that deep. Auburn finished with 22 sacks, the same number that Roof's defense produced in 2011.

And the defensive tackles failed to take advantage of VanGorder's scheme. Altogether, Auburn's four-man rotation at the position -- Angelo Blackson, Gabe Wright, Jeff Whitaker and Ken Carter -- combined for 74 tackles, 13.5 tackles-for-loss and 2.5 sacks. Blackson was by far the most productive with 26 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss and a sack.

Behind Auburn's defensive line, weak-side linebacker Daren Bates and middle linebacker Jake Holland saw most of the playing time as opponents kept the Tigers in nickel with a series of three and four-receiver sets.

Bates and Holland finished first and fourth on the team in tackles with 94 and 73, respectively, but neither is physical enough or big enough to take on offensive linemen at the line of scrimmage.

"This is a big man's game, a heavyweight game," VanGorder said in that same interview two weeks ago. "We've got to get bigger and stronger here at Auburn. It's pretty obvious."

Along with VanGorder, new defensive backs coach Willie Martinez was brought in to help correct a secondary that had struggled during Roof's tenure, especially against the deep ball.

Early in the season, Auburn showed an ability to shut down top-flight receivers, limiting Arkansas' Cobi Hamilton and Ole Miss star Donte Moncrief, but the secondary got worse as the season went on, eventually allowing Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron to repeatedly go deep in the season finale.

Auburn's secondary allowed 222.9 yards per game, a mark that ranked a respectable 44th nationally but was actually four yards per game worse than Roof's 2011 mark, and a unit that was an abysmal 86th in the nation in pass efficiency defense dropped to 101st.

Making matters worse, the Tigers only made two interceptions all season.

"I'd love to turn it around," VanGorder said two weeks ago. "We still have a long way to go. A lot of physical and mental development to take place here."

Now that Chizik has been fired, the man who put together such a sparkling resume as a defensive coordinator leaves Auburn with a head coaching legacy that includes three defenses that rank among the worst in school history, and another in 2010 that gave up some explosive scoring games despite the SEC's best run defense.